本土技术特性、科学研究情境适配与本土技术创新

Abstract

The contradiction between high scientific output and low local technology transformation in building China's strength in science and technology highlights a critical gap in understanding the local service function of domestic scientific research. Reflecting on the limitations of the Merton paradigm and drawing on contextualized knowledge production theory, this paper proposes that domestic scientific research exhibits contextual dependence and the necessity of adaptation to local technology characteristics, and constructs a theoretical framework to elucidate the local service function of domestic scientific research. To validate this theoretical framework, this study employs text analysis, machine learning, and big data processing technologies to establish data and textual content connections between over 1.92 million Chinese invention patents and their citing literature. The findings reveal that the guiding effect of domestic and foreign scientific research on local technological innovation varies with the strength of local technological characteristics, and technological innovation in fields with strong local technological characteristics is more dependent on the guidance of domestic scientific research. The root cause lies in the fact that local technological characteristics shaped by social culture, geographical environment, institutional regulations, and other contexts determine the differentiated demands of technological innovation in different fields for the adaptation of scientific research contexts. Meanwhile, domestic scientific research has the advantage of context adaptation, composed of geographical proximity, cultural embeddedness, and institutional familiarity. By providing localized contextualized knowledge and offering knowledge support that is more in line with the development needs of local technologies, domestic scientific research has become an indispensable driving force for technological innovation in fields with strong local technological characteristics. These conclusions are further validated through robustness checks and exclusionary discussions. The marginal contributions are threefold. First, this study constructs a theoretical framework for the local service function of domestic scientific research. Drawing on the theory of contextualized knowledge production, this study builds a theoretical framework of "local technology characteristics-scientific research contextual adaptation-local technology innovation", revealing the underlying mechanisms through which domestic scientific research serves local technological innovation. Second, by challenging the implicit assumption of homogeneous guiding effects embedded in the traditional paradigm of free knowledge flow, this study demonstrates that the guiding effects of domestic and foreign scientific research on local technology innovation diverge with the strength of local technology characteristics, offering differentiated policy insights for bridging the translation gap from science to technology. Third, by leveraging big data methods to establish linkages between patent-citation data and textual content, this study measures contextual adaptation of domestic scientific literature citations across technological fields, and identifies the pathways through which domestic scientific research exerts its contextual adaptation advantages, thereby advancing the empirical study of contextualized knowledge production theory.